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TEAMS: Australia, by common consent — even Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu agrees — are the team to beat. They bat deeper than any other side (reserve pace bowler Andy Bichel saving them with the bat against England) and began the tournament with the best bowling attack, while their fielding sets the standard. But quick bowler Jason Gillespie’s departure through injury, to add to Shane Warne’s early exit, may help shift the balance of power.
Sri Lanka, the 1996 world champions, rely hugely on three men — skipper and opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas’s left-arm seam bowling and off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. The only time none of them performed the team contrived to lose to Kenya. As a unit, however, they have excelled in the one-day game.
FORMWATCH: Australia are in prime form, with six wins out of six and a world record of 12 one-day international wins in a row. They were only tested once in Group A, when England seemed to have them on the ropes before Bichel and Michael Bevan’s match-saving unbroken stand (73 for the ninth wicket).
Sri Lanka shared the Champions Trophy, the biggest one-day event outside the World Cup, with India in September. Lost a warm-up one-day series 4-1 in South Africa. Suffered a shock defeat by Kenya in Nairobi but the team bounced back to beat West Indies in a Cape Town thriller, then tied with South Africa to knock the hosts out.
HEAD-T0-HEADS: The statistics show that Australia beat Sri Lanka in two of every three matches. But the rivalry has been much keener since the early 1990s after Australia had won 16 of the first 19 meetings. Sri Lanka have lost the last three one-day series but say they win the games that matter, including the 1996 World Cup final and the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal in September.
KEY PLAYERS: Australia — Skipper Ricky Ponting has just one half-century in the tournament and was less than impressed with his top-order against England. Sri Lanka’s spinners have undone his side before, the last time in the Champions Trophy, and he will have to anchor the batting to make sure there is no repeat.
Sri Lanka — Muttiah Muralitharan wins matches in two ways, either taking wickets — he has 12 Cup victims at 14.58 apiece — but almost as often by throttling scoring rates, conceding fewer than four runs an over. West Indies needed 16 runs to win off two overs against Sri Lanka but were effectively killed off when the off spinner gave away just two in the 49th.
PREVIOUS WORLD CUPS: Holders Australia won the trophy for the first time in 1987 and, having achieved runners-up spots in 1975 and 1996, are the only country to have reached the final on four occasions.
Sri Lanka won the 1996 tournament by beating Australia, in the process revolutionising the game with their all-out attacking batting in the first 15 overs. It was the first time they had qualified for the final stages of the Cup. In 1999, they crashed out early, prompting a cull of older players.—Reuters
